Thursday, February 04, 2010

Why Apple makes money ...

...because you're an idiot. If you buy Apple products, they bank on you being an idiot.

The iPod and iTunes. You had to have one. So did everyone else and Mac sales went up. However when Apple finally realized the iPod wasnt going to drive Mac sales, they released iTunes on the PC about 2 years later. The iPod exploded.

The only problem is that iTunes locked your music to itself and your iPod. "Your" music wasnt yours anymore, but the device and software's music. Oh and Apple started ads hating on the PC (you know the platform that made their iPod what it is?).

Then you're messiah Steve came down from on high and said, "Let there be no longer DRM." and there was much rechoicing. All previous sins were forgiven and everyone was glad that they had to pay money AGAIN to unlock their DRM songs. But they were happy to do it to free their music because they knew Steve Jobs is the Abraham Lincoln of MP3s and they are happy to obey.

Then came the iPhone. Let's get real honest here. No one would buy this thing without Apps. And presto the App Store was born and everyone said "OH I gotta have these apps!". And the few people that said, "uh wait, this is a DRM'ed fully enclosed monopolistic marketplace where Apple is the only gatekeeper," they were ignored because Steve Jobs didnt decree this to be an issue. And remember one of these apps was Apple's Safari web browser (it's important for later).

And now we come to the iPad. People now debate on whether they will buy one or just get an iPhone or keep their iPod Touch. And no one cares about the Apps only running in their enclosed and protected universe.

And no one, seems to care or realize that all the way back to OS8, the common web browser allowed you to purchase and download digital content from any website. And that Apple could've used that all along for their delivery method. Even using their own Safari web browser to do it. But no, they closed the system and continue to leave it closed the entire time so they can make money. And everyone just lets them go ahead and get away with it or get a free pass. Wallstreet's making money, Taiwanese and Chinese companies (with child labor) are making money building all these things, hell Steve Jobs even has made so much money that he bought himself a new liver. He bought himself a new liver with part of your money.

You didnt even need an App to move the files to your device because your Operating System supported that already too. You didnt have to buy all new wires or docks or connectors because USB had that all taken care of too.

So the next time you buy an Apple product or you agree with or assert that they helped revolutionized the industry, just remember these things:

USB cables can do everything just fine.

Your OS can move files between one thing and another just fine.

A web browser can (and should) display any web page on any platform.

Apple didnt invent the idea of ditching DRM

Apple charged you to de-DRM your already bought tunes.

A lot of people made Unix for free and that is the backbone of OSX.

The iPhone and iPad are closed systems where Apple is in control of what apps are allowed on the device.

People buy them because they are "Apple" or are "sexy" doesnt explain why the key trendsetters initially bought enough of them to make them popular. If you cant quantify sexy it can no longer be used as a dismissive way of explaining this stuff when you dont have any other ideas.

Steve Jobs was once quoted as saying that doing LSD was "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life."

Steve Jobs is now rich enough to buy his own liver and did. His own liver. Think about that.